In the 2011, after 10 and more years of general urban mismanagement, and the deletion of any kind of cultural activity in the town, the former mayor announced a “public” “call for interest” concerning the “Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa”, where access criterias only met big business enterprises and developers profiles, showing the clear intention to put a common good in private hands, and hiding the move behind the “lack of funds” justification. The city rebelled. More than 70 associations, artists, reserachers, professionals and normal citizens came together, forming a movement: “I Cantieri che Vogliamo”. The first move as organized group was therefore to legally stop this public call, suing the mayor and asking for the unconstitutionality of his action. Since then, the movement started to experience and propose to the city a model of virtuous actions and, at the same time, an alternative spaces and resources management laboratory, which is reproducible and extensible to other urban areas/issues.
The movement is thus committed to promote this social experiment, to foster the construction of a project for the Cantieri, but also for other spaces in the city of Palermo. This aim is a “civil” message in response to political indifference, neglect, waste, and the lack of policy innovation and social cohesion the city of Palermo is experiencing from too long.
Crisis regimes and emerging social movements 